Our natural tendency is to hold tightly to our lives. We grip our hopes and dreams so tightly often little life remains in them. We cling to our way of thinking, our eyes squeezed tightly shut. All the while, our Savior reaches out to us with grace, mercy, joy and hope on the other side of our obedience to HIS way. This week’s song, “Touch the Sky” by Hillsong United paints a beautiful picture of surrender which led me to consider a most wonderful practice of surrender — prayer.
Choose to explore Ephesians 6 this week, but most of all, determine in your heart to pray.
On this episode I discuss:
- The definition of surrender – to agree to stop fighting, hiding and resisting
- Taking a B.I.T.E. out of Scripture – our Bible Interaction Tool Exercise this week is praying before reading God’s Word and asking for His wisdom, understanding and direction
- Using the memory verse from Episode 86 to ask God for the desire and power to understand His Word
- How Christ died so that we should no longer live for ourselves – 2 Corinthians 5:15
- How we find our lives in Christ when we lay down our lives – Matthew 16:24-26
- Total abandonment to God is the only way to true life in Christ
- The story behind the song, “Touch the Sky” with Joel Houston and Taya Smith – YouTube Video
- The book “How to Pray” by R.A. Torrey as my inspiration for my discussion on prayer on this episode
- The “all”s in Ephesians 6:18
- Praying at ALL times in the Spirit
- With ALL prayer and supplication
- Keeping alert with ALL perseverance
- Making supplication for ALL the saints
- That prayer is important because there is a devil
- How prayer is God’s design for obtaining His favor and blessing
- Our neglect of prayer leads to the powerlessness we experience in our daily lives – James 4:2
- A scene from the movie “War Room” – YouTube Video
- Aligning our prayers with God’s agenda
- How the apostles regarded prayer as the most important business of their lives – Acts 6:2-4
- How prayer occupied a very prominent place and played a very important part in the earthly life of Jesus – Mark 1:35, Luke 6:12
- Through prayer we obtain grace, mercy and fullness of joy – Hebrews 4:16, John 16:24
- How prayer is the pathway to peace – Philippians 4:6-7
- How prayer brings power into our work and leads others to salvation, in addition to promoting our own spiritual growth
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If you have never heard this song before, you can watch the official lyric video on YouTube below.
Additional Resources
Download the single or the album by clicking the link below.
This Week’s Challenge
First things first. PRAY! Pray each day this week before you put your feet on the floor. Pray before you crack open your Bible. Pray constantly each time it comes to your mind. Lift your petitions, your praise AND your thanksgiving to God…pray in varied ways. Humbly plead for your needs. Watch for God to answer by praying in an expectant and sleepless way. Don’t give up! Be persistent. If you don’t know what to pray for, then pray that God will give you an unreasonable desire for His Word. At that point, open Ephesians 6:10-20 and consider the foundation of today’s discussion. Read that section in a variety of translations to roll it around in your mind and look at it from different angles.
